Accessibility

[Liz]

Dear Kerbal Space Program Developers,

First of all, what a super-cool concept for a video game!!

You've created an enchanting space experience with plenty of challenges for those who enjoy figuring out the intricacies of actual space flight, and plenty of awe-inspiring moments for anyone who can manage to get a ship into space. However, for those of us who aren't all that interested in the learning the relatively deep levels of space-related science and math required to be able to do anything beyond building a ship and watching it crash, the game is prohibitively daunting.

Some form of helper tool is required to make this game accessible to people other than space math/science enthusiasts. MechJeb does that very well.

I'm sure there are tons of kids out there, as well as plenty of adults, who would love to play this game but can't really do much without first spending days or weeks studying actual space flight concepts. I know I'm not inclined to do that, but I still love the awe-inspiring experience of sending a ship into space. The realism of Kerbal Space Program is great, but without some kind of helper like MechJeb it requires actually learning real space science. That's not within everyone's capabilities or interest. You game is not accissible to those other than space science enthusiasts without such a helper.

I think it is noteworthy to mention that through using MechJeb I ended up learning some of the basic spaceflight techniques required to do a few things, such as doing a Hohmann transfer and setting up a rendezvous with another ship in orbit... things I would have never figured out on my own without some serious dedicated research, something I would not have done. No, I would have simply never learned that stuff and stopped playing Kerbal Space Program altogether. And now that I know how to do that stuff, thanks to MechJeb, I can challenge myself when I'm in the mood and see if I can do it without the flight planning tools or autopilot. Without that basic knowledge of how to do those things I wouldn't have a clue where to even start.

So I strongly suggest that something like MechJeb (a flight helper/autopilot tool) be added to the core program in order to make your wonderful game accessible to anyone who is not already a hardcore space science enthusiast.

MechJeb does a great job of making the game accessible, so why not just make that an official included part of Kerbal Space Program in the next update... seems the simplest solution to me. MechJeb also has several very useful information panels that would be great to have as standard components to the game. The layout is very good just the way it is.

Also, if you do add what I am suggesting to the game it should probably be something that's available right away in career mode. Otherwise you make career mode inaccessible (those who need the flight helper won't be able earn upgrades if they can't do anything).

I don't think it should be a part either (like it is in MechJeb). It should just be a standard interface tool. And you could have a check box in the options menu to turn it on and off. Many people will certainly prefer to do everything on thier own too.

If nothing else, do it for the children!

:)

[MKI]

I thought Mechjeb was the way to make the game accessible, it seems like it did a good job

Anyways, I feel Mechjeb becomes a crutch way to easily. There are tutorials that teach you the basics which help players get into the game easier than sandbox or career.

Really there just needs to be more tutorials and other things such as documentation(when the game comes out).

I learned probably 75% from reading and watching tutorials, 15% from playing the game and the last 10% from mechjeb itself.

I consider myself a "MechJeb" cadet as i learned how to dock from the thing. But beyond that i had no problems learning from experience and reading.

Offering Mechjeb gets rid of one thing. The thrill of figuring things out without any help. I got this game because i was Amazed after i landed on the Mun in the Tutorial. I have dumped a lot of time into this game before AND after i had mechjeb. And personally flying your ship is half the fun, learning to have fun in doing so is important in figuring out the game.

The fact its a SpaceSim, means your going to have to learn space to fully enjoy the game.

[Liz]

The real issue is this I think:

Do the developers want this game to be popular (it is and will continue to be), or do they want it to be Minecraft popular?

If its not accessible it will never become the worldwide sensation it has the potential to be.

If its not easy to play for those who want to just have some idle fun you're excluding a huge market.

I get what you're saying too MKI, about the thrill of figuring it out yourself and of being able to accomplish those really difficult tasks. But I think even with a flight helper/autopilot there is going to be plenty of opportunity for people who want that experience to have it anyway. There just needs to be an option to turn that stuff off. Those who want that challenge will turn it off, and those that don't will still be able to play the game... without having to search for a mod to make the game playable for them (playable out of the box is always better, naturally).

I've seen flight simulators that had a whole bunch of realism settings that could be turned on or off. That was great because some people really got into the challenge and thrill of being able to fly a plane with full realism on, and other people, like me, would be totally incapable of getting the plane off the ground with full realism on... and totally uninterested in spending the time required to learn how. What would have happened if the developers of those games had included no such options?

Letting people choose how they want to play a game and what kind of experience they want to have with it is essential to making a game interesting for the widest possible audience.

[MKI]

I think minecraft and Kerbal Space Program come from the same type of development but are not aiming for the same type of players.

Minecraft is virtual legos, where as Kerbal Space Program is virtual legos in building your ship, then more or less Orbiter in flying it(look the game up,). Kerbal wont ever reach Minecraft level of popularity simply because its NOT easy. You can't really be a "pro" at minecraft simply because its blocks and some adventuring. Half of Kerbal is a space flight Sim, there will always be better pilots than others. And such there are landmarks for being better. Such as landing on the Mun, to landing on Moho.

I remember finding minecraft when it was FIRST started and was more of a project, rather than a big indie game. Tt here was very little in the way of awesome stuff. The game went throught a lot of gameplay changes before becoming what it currently is today. Same goes with Kerbal, there still is a lot needed to be added before the game is even close to "1.0". Things such as more tutorials and lessons on basic orbital mechanics are important to learn to go further, but NOT important to just have fun. There are many ways to help a player learn rather than "do the test for him" by giving him autopilot mechjeb.

If you look up any review of the game they all mention the realistic, daughting challenge of flying in Kerbal as a feature. Its as much part of the game as Building massive rockets and watching them explode as Jebidiah laughs on the way down.

Reaching the largest fan base is nice for sales, but selling out to just attract a wider audience would make the game worse.

Mechjeb is there for those who need it and want it, but not there for those who would rather fly the game through experience and learning.

[Specialist290]

First off: Welcome to the forums!

You're certainly not the first to suggest that Squad should add an autopilot to the game; in fact, at one point, autopilot functionality suggestions were so common that we had to put them on our What Not To Suggest list to encourage people not to constantly re-suggest it over and over again. Our standard policy with items on this list is to close the thread with a reminder that the item has been heavily suggested in the past and that we want to encourage newer and more unique ideas. However, in your case, as you're being quite polite, you've obviously put a great deal of thought and passion into your original post, and your primary concern appears to be more about increasing accessibility to the game rather than strictly adding autopilot for its own sake, I feel like I personally would be doing you a disservice if I didn't try to address your concerns directly above and beyond what is usual for this sort of discussion.

Before I go on, I want you to know that, although I'm a forum moderator, I'm not actually a member of Squad myself, and thus I'm not speaking in an official capacity on their behalf; like you, I'm just a fan of the game, just one that somebody saw fit to give a fancy title and extra responsibilities to. What follows is my own opinion, not some sort of official pronouncement from On High.

While I believe that KSP is a game for all ages (from five to ninety-five), I do also believe that the game is targeted primarily at space enthusiasts -- the sorts of people who enjoy learning about real-world space exploration, or who tinkers with model rockets in his garage and launches them in a local open field, or who have always dreamed of becoming an astronaut themselves but, for various reasons, never got to fulfill that dream in the course of their life. In that sense, I believe that KSP is something of a niche game by its very nature, like many of the more faithful simulation games out there.

I also think you're also slightly overstating how difficult it is to research and apply manually the techniques you need to get the most out of the game to suit your playstyle. You don't need to be a mathematical genius or an expert astrophysicist to play the game (though having that sort of background certainly helps to shortcut the learning process); trial-and-error works just as well. Most of the principles involved are counter-intuitive because we as humans live on the surface of a planet with an atmosphere that affects how the things we experience everyday behave, but (and I believe this is where the true magic of this game shines through) once you see them broken down into a simple procedure and see for yourself how they interact in practice, you can pick up on them much more quickly than if you just read about them. Furthermore, there is a great wealth of information available through fan-made tutorials and resources which break things down into easily-digestible procedures and principles that help the player "learn through doing," and our own Tutorials and Gameplay Questions forum and the #kspofficial IRC channel are chock-full of people who are both willing and eager to share what they have learned themselves to help others get the fullest experience out of the game. It's fully possible to learn the game simply through trial-and-error, observing what works and what doesn't, without needing to learn anything at all about things like "delta-v" and "specific impulse" and "gravity assists" and "Hohmann transfer orbits" at all.

Furthermore, depending on your player preferences, there's certainly plenty of fun to be had in and around Kerbin, without even going to the Mun and other planets at all. It's entirely possible to have fun simply by building the most outlandish contraptions you can and seeing how far they'll go. I know of at least two people on Youtube who have rather successful video series focused almost entirely around doing just that.

I also think you're just slightly underestimating how bright and eager to learn many children can be -- a sizable chunk of our fanbase is under 18 years old, and if anything, many of them seem to be more eager to learn about orbital mechanics than the adults are (possibly because they haven't already gotten the memo that learning rocket science is supposed to be hard ). They seem to be both learning and having fun doing it, and time spent doing that is never wasted.

In conclusion: Many people certainly don't need an autopilot to enjoy the game, though I personally won't begrudge the choice of those who choose to use one.

That being said, I certainly share your concerns about KSP being made more accessible -- it's part of why I personally run the Drawing Board, after all -- and if Squad's recent statements about looking over their official in-game player tutorials (which are definitely long overdue for a good revision) mean anything, so do they.

Hope this helps

[Liz]

I appreciate the thoughtful responses.

If Kerbal Space Program is a niche game for the elite then its a niche game for the elite. That certainly wouldn't be a calamity. Though it would be unfortunate for those who have no ambition to be elite space pilots but would still like to play around in (virtual) space.

And yeah, this suggestion isn't just "add autopilot". Its more like, "you might want to consider making your game playable for a wider audience, and automated flight planning and piloting features would absolutely do that".

One particular reason I think automated flight planning and autopilot functions need to be in the core game, as opposed to available only as a mod, is that some aspects of the game are inaccessable to people like myself without them, such as the Scenarios (including the new ARM missions, which are simply out of my reach at present).

Really, I can't do much without MechJeb. Even with that mod doing anything successfully is still a huge challenge. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds themselves in this position.

Another reason is that MechJeb may not always be available. I don't know how dedicated (long-term) the developer(s) of that mod are, but what happens if they drop off the face of the earth? The next update of KSP becomes unplayable for a huge amount of people.

But, again, if its a niche game for the elite then that's what it is. I just hope the developers decide to include non-elite space enthusiasts to thier target audience too.

[Red Iron Crown]

I can see the reasoning behind not wanting an autopilot included in the core game. Good tutorials should be enough to teach new players ascent, basic orbital maneuvers, rendezvous, docking, and landing. Those are the essential piloting skills to accomplish just about anything non-trivial in KSP. While I think MJ is a useful way to teach those skills to some players, it is certainly possible to learn them through trial and error.

Mission planning is another story. I don't believe the trial and error method works at all for interplanetary transfers. An IP transfer is time consuming, and I can see players trying it for the first time getting frustrated with not knowing when transfer windows open and how much delta-V their ship has or is required to complete the maneuver. Basically, some calculation is required for interplanetary transfers unless a player is willing to make at least dozens of attempts to get those factors right though trial and error.

Right now, we either do those calculations manually, use external tools like the online transfer calculators, or use informational mods. It seems silly to me to include all the content of other planets without providing the tools to make a successful interplanetary transfer possible for non-rocket scientists. I've seen new players advised to put a protractor up to the monitor to measure phase angle for transfer, does that seem like it should be necessary to do something the game is intended to allow?

[Xaiier]

Another reason is that MechJeb may not always be available. I don't know how dedicated (long-term) the developer(s) of that mod are, but what happens if they drop off the face of the earth? The next update of KSP becomes unplayable for a huge amount of people.

Unlikely, it is perhaps the single most-used mod in the entirety of KSP, if for some reason it should ever be abandoned, it would be immediately picked up by others. Thanks to the requirement of posting source code it would be nearly effortless.

I am opposed to the idea of adding a lot of MechJeb's automatic piloting features, but I can definitely see where mission planning would be a great addition to the game. The fact that some mods (delta-v & orbital info calculators for example) have become almost standard to use with the game shows there is a distinct lack of some necessary information. It would be nice if they were somewhat optional additions, that advanced players could enable but new players would still not have to deal with being overwhelmed by "rocket science"

I also definitely agree with establishing a better method of interplanetary transfer windows, though I don't know how it could really be done. Tools like ksp.olex.biz are great, but should be standard within the game somehow. The mechanics behind a proper transfer are far too complicated to leave up to trial and error.